==========================================

===================

Investigators may wish to know more about their erstwhile allies,

Professor Demir and Baron Von Hofler. Those making an Occult roll (or
Know roll for those with an academic background) have heard a little
about each individual, summarized below under Initial Knowledge.
Smith can also provide this, since he is proud of his association with
both men.

Further digging can be done with successful Persuade rolls on known

occultists or experts to get them to talk. At the keeper’s option,
Randolph Alexis (the occultist from the optional scenario “The Doom
Train”) might be one such consultant.

==========================================
===================
PROFESSOR DEMIR
Initial Knowledge: Demir is trained as an anthropologist both in
Turkey but also in Greece and London. He also has an interest in
magical belief and has written extensively on the subject of cults and
outré religions and is well respected in his field. He is a Muslim and is
married with two sons and a daughter. He is in his mid fifties.
Further Information: Professor Demir is held in good standing at the
Oriental Club and any number of testimonials can be offered there.
These establish him as an upright and learned man committed to good
causes. He is also an ally of the Ottoman court and has little time for
those who would oppose it politically.
==========================================
===================

Children of the Blood Red Fez

THE CULTIST’S TIMETABLE
The cultists have a set timetable for their nefarious activities. Investigators may
thwart this with their own actions, in which case the cultists will try to get back on
schedule. The cult has no ‘stars are right’ need to time the sacrifice beyond needing
two Fezzes and the knowledge from The Whispering Fez. Keepers should use the
initial timetable as a guide, if things shift to different dates.
Thursday night: Theft of The Whispering Fez and murder of Joshua Devore.
Menkaph begins studying the book.
Friday: Cultists capture Matthew Pook and fit him with the Blood Red Fez. Menkaph
uses him to understand more about the Fez and its properties. Over the next three
days he spawns three new Fezzes, using the student’s POW.
Sunday night: Pook is left to die by the cultists. In a final moment of lucidity he
sends for Professor Smith. The cultists watch the house to see who comes.
Monday: The cultists remain in London. Menkaph hires Burnham on Monday
morning, and describes the investigators and Smith.
Tuesday: Menkaph leaves for Paris on Tuesday’s Le Train Bleu, leaving Burnham to
spy for him. Menkaph spends Tuesday night in Paris at the Hotel Meurice, reading The
Whispering Fez. He meets with the Myers whom he has groomed earlier, and
convinces Scott Myers to don the Blood Red Fez, allowing Menkaph to create a new
Fez. Myers is used as a slave to stop other Fez wearers from deteriorating.
Wednesday: The investigators probably leave for France this morning, joining the
Express at Châlonssur- Marne at 10:26 P.M. that night. Burnham makes the same
journey. Menkaph and the cultists depart Paris at 7:30 P.M. Menkaph now wears a Fez
and controls all other Fezzes, and a cultist in Sleeping Car Two also wears a Fez.
Thursday: Another cultist in Sleeping Car Two now wears a Blood Red Fez also.
Friday: The rest of the cult in Constantinople receives instructions by telegraph. They
attack Professor Demir and kidnap his son as insurance against the activities of the
investigators.
Saturday: The Orient Express arrives in Constantinople. If the investigators have not
stopped them, Menkaph or one of his cultists delivers the Fez and book to Nisra the
Daughter of Fate on Princes’ Islands.
Sunday and beyond: Nisra and the cult stage a kidnap exchange that night to get
rid of Demir’s allies and get the Fez and the book if they have lost them. Twentyfour
hours after Nisra gets the book she can conduct the ritual, provided she has a Fez.

WHAT THE CULTISTS WANT

The cultists have four goals:
1. Own at least two Blood Red Fezzes. The Control Fez will be worn by a cultist,
presumably Menkaph. At least one will be worn by a dupe to feed power to the
controller. If the cult only has one Fez they will use it to spawn another.
2. Possess the book The Whispering Fez.
3. Get to Constantinople.
4. Sacrifice the Prince using at least two Fezzes and The Whispering Fez.
==========================================
===================

BARON VON HOFLER

Initial Knowledge: The Baron is mysterious. He is a noted occultist
but also a wealthy and powerful man in his native Austria, being part of
the Austrian nobility. He does not publish but is known for readily
helping those who are interested in the area of the occult, including
hosting them at his estate outside of Vienna and giving access to his
private library. He also has a reputation for generosity, and often
underwrites the activities of other scholars through his vast wealth.

Further Digging: The Baron is respected for his knowledge and

determination but is known to be a difficult person who does not suffer
fools. There is also a suggestion that he has let his personal
magnetism and trappings of power go too far. Something close to a
cult is currently forming around him. Despite this, no-one has accused
the Baron of anything outwardly wrong.
==========================================
===================
The Shoreditch Address
Victorian Shoreditch is known for its squalor. The address in Shoreditch
is for a shabby second floor apartment overlooking a reeking slum
alley. This is the current, but not only, address of Bentley Burnham.
(For more about Burnham see the boxed text, p. 59).

The investigators may corner Burnham in his Shoreditch rooms. He will

certainly be alarmed if the investigators arrive at his house, but will
claim he was working on a story and hoped to hire Matthew Pook to
help him with his research. If the investigators threaten force, he will
bargain for his safety with information. He confesses that he is working
for a man named Menkaph, who has left London. He gives up
Menkaph’s whereabouts in Paris at the luxury Hotel Meurice on the
Seine, about a half-an-hour coach ride from the Gare de l’Est station.
Burnham intends to take the Orient Express on Wednesday to give
Menkaph his report.

==========================================
===================
Preparing for the Trip
The investigators should prepare for their trip to Constantinople. The
Baron has wired money to Smith so that they can secure tickets on the
Orient Express. Smith can also contact the Turkish embassy on their
behalf to secure travel visas for Constantinople. If investigators lack
passports or visas or other impediments, the Baron pulls strings from
Vienna to have everything smoothly provided before the departure.
See also the Gaslight on the Orient Express source material on page 83
for more information on preparation for travelling on the Orient
Express.

==========================================
===================

London to Chalons-sur-Marne
The investigators depart London’s Victoria Station at 10:00 A.M. on the
morning of their Orient Express connection. They make a pleasant
journey out of the city and through the countryside of Kent to Dover,
where a steamer awaits to take them across the Channel to Calais.
They arrive in Calais at 1:40 P.M. and after a short afternoon stay take
a connecting service from Calais to Châlons-sur-Marne where they will
join the Orient Express that evening at 10:26 P.M., three hours after the
Orient Express departs Paris.

==========================================
===================

What if the Investigators

Take a Later Train?
It is possible the investigators decide to get the following Saturday’s Orient Express,
not the Wednesday one, and spend days in Paris and London covering every possible
loose end and dining richly on lashings of red herring. To make certain cultists and
investigators are on the same train, keepers should allow that Menkaph has decided
the investigators pose a significant enough threat to delay his trip and kill them on
the train. In this instance the actions of the enemy on the train are more direct and
immediate in trying to eliminate the investigators. Such is the price of tardiness.

==========================================
===================

BURNHAM ON BOARD
The trip from London is uneventful save for one critical thing: the
presence of Bentley Burnham. He is shadowing the investigators and
intends to board the Orient Express with them, report to Menkaph on
the train overnight, and disembark at Stuttgart in the morning. He
keeps a discreet distance from the investigators as much as he can
when they are sharing trains and steamers. If they confront him, either
for following them or because they have encountered him earlier, he
puts on a bland façade and proffers his journalist credentials. He claims
to be on the way to Stuttgart to cover a story about the German
Empire conducting espionage against Great Britain. His story is
plausible, if unlikely.
==========================================
===================

CHÂLONS-SUR-MARNE
Investigators dine on the Calais-Châlons coach, so by the time they
board the Orient Express that night the staff will get them onto the
train as quickly as possible and settle them into their sleeping
compartments. The Wagon-Lits staff assists the porters of Châlons-sur-
Marne in quickly sorting investigator luggage. The investigators are the
only ones joining the Constantinople car at this stop, so they alone join
Sleeping Car One. Bentley Burnham is staying in Sleeping Car Two,
since he is getting off sooner than Constantinople. (At the keeper’s
discretion they could elect to have one or more of the British NPC
passengers journey with the investigators from London—this does not
include the Myers, who are already in Paris).
==========================================
===================

On Board the Orient Express

See the Gaslight on the Orient Express section on page 83 for more
details on the train. Daily events are listed after the passenger list. The
train ‘days’ are counted until midnight when the next day begins. Use
this to sync the degeneration brought on by the Blood Red Fez. The
timetable gives the times of the Orient Express’ arrival at key stops
along the line.

A major incident may delay the train, but if the Chef de Train can
present an obvious solution to local officials and have them remove
bodies and blatant evildoers promptly and without fuss, he will.
(Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express is the classic example
of this).
==========================================
===================

Sleeping Car One: Paris to

Constantinople
The following people are on board the Sleeping Car One, a through car
from Paris to Constantinople. Note that true cars of the era could carry
twenty passengers, but this has been changed so that keepers and
players can take advantage of the train plans provided. The Sleeping
Car has been arranged for a party of six investigators and 10 other
passengers. If there are less than six investigators, use the pre-
generated ones to make up the numbers. Note for uneven numbers a
man and woman who are strangers to each other will never be asked
to share a compartment.
==========================================
===================

HENRI PEETERS, CONDUCTEUR

The conducteur on the Constantinople car is Henri Peeters, a rail-thin
dark haired Belgian in an impeccable uniform. Henri is very friendly
and will help the investigators. His greeting is always: “Henri is here.
How may I help you?” He is thoroughly unflappable in the best
Wagons- Lits style. Henri has already taken a dislike to Menkaph when
he boarded in Paris, because the man is uncouth and taking
inappropriate interest in Mrs. Myers while her husband is clearly sick.
He will, for a tastefully offered gratuity, offer some service even
beyond the norm.

==========================================
===================

(1) Double Compartment (Top of Carriage): Two Investigators

Twin berth compartment with two investigators.

(2) Double Compartment: Two Investigators

Twin berth compartment with two investigators.
(3) Double Compartment: Two Investigators
Twin berth compartment with two investigators.

==========================================
===================
(4) Double Compartment: Miss Macgregor and Miss Minkoff
AILEEN MACGREGOR, AGE 27, SCOTTISH REPORTER FOR THE
WOMAN’S HERALD
Macgregor is a Christian suffragette and reporter for the Woman’s
Herald. She is interested in international issues and is independently
wealthy, and thus funding a fact finding mission to the Ottoman
Empire. The British (and later the Americans) are especially intrigued
with the ‘Armenian Question’ in the Ottoman Empire, especially the
fate of Armenians as Christians within a Muslim Empire. Aileen is also
interested in the lot of women there. Armenian nationalists are
agitating to break away from the Empire and political, religious, and
ethnic tensions are high. There have been armed clashes between
Armenians and their Muslim neighbors. This will soon erupt in
bloodshed and massacre, but for the time being things are merely
simmering with the odd outbreak of violence and rumors of rebellion.
Aileen intends to go to the Ottoman court to find answers to their
approach, then to travel in Armenia. Macgregor is an intense but
pleasant woman and comes from a well-off Lowlands family, hence her
capacity to travel on the Orient Express. She is keen to get to her story
fast. She has travelled for pleasure before in the east and knows
Constantinople well and might serve as a useful ally.

==========================================
===================
KARLA MINKOFF, AGE 34, RUSSIAN COMPANION
Karla Minkoff is the companion of Countess Irina Razumosky (p. 66).
She was hired by the Count but her first loyalty is to her mistress,
including keeping secret the Countess’ affairs.

Among her skills are first aid and accomplished hand-to-hand abilities.
Karla has no sympathies for anarchists or other political revolutionaries
and is indifferent to politics. She is thoroughly practical. Investigators
could do worse than seek her out if they are injured. She will help in a
crisis provided it does not endanger her mistress.
==========================================
===================

(5) Double compartment: Egorov and Kapok

EGOROV AGE 39, COUNTERFEIT SERVANT AND CZARIST SPY
A thin man largely bald with just a few small tufts of grey hair over his
ears, and grayish white skin, Egorov is stooped, silent and implacable,
but always polite and obedient. Egorov is ostensibly the Count’s
servant but is only recently in the Count’s employ. He is a Czarist spy
and has a tattoo of a bear on his forearm. He plans to use the Count’s
trip to Constantinople as cover to assassinate one of the Ottoman
Sultan’s advisors, Vizier Sehdi Bey, who is notably anti-Russian. He has
a dossier on Sehdi Bey and details of his movements, and a thousand
pounds in rubles and Turkish lira. Investigators may find him a
potential ally if he believes the Count is in danger (he cares a lot less
about the fate of the Countess). If they uncover his true purpose they
may find his intentions despicable enough to make him an enemy. He
prefers quiet murder: strangulation or poison. He is very dangerous.

KAPOK, AGE 42, LOYAL SERVANT OF MENKAPH

Tall and wiry and taciturn, Kapok is silent and docile, awaiting his
master’s orders to strike. He has two other colleagues, both wearing
fezzes, in the next carriage. If needed he will don the Blood Red Fez
himself. Menkaph has given him enough knowledge to control the Fez
in case Kapok should need to take over.
==========================================
===================

(6) Double Compartment: Mr. and Mrs. Scott Myers

Menkaph and Kapok are often in this compartment watching over the
Myers. At meal times, Scott Myers is in here alone, guarded by a
Shadow Spawn of the Blood Red Fez (see statistics). The Shadow
Spawn shrouds the compartment in darkness. The book The
Whispering Fez is kept in this compartment, and is currently under
Myers’ pillow.

SCOTT MYERS, AGE 22, ENGLISH NEWLYWED AND DUPE OF THE

BLOOD RED FEZ
Myers is a young fool fascinated by the occult, who has fallen under
the influence of Menkaph while on his honeymoon in Paris. He is now
an unwilling wearer of the Blood Red Fez and his sanity and life are
slowly ebbing away. Unless the investigators are lucky and generous,
he is likely doomed. In former life he was a dilettante son of a wealthy
banker, who hid his interest in the recherché from his father.

ELIZABETH ‘ELLIE’ MYERS AGE 19, ENGLISH NEWLYWED

Elizabeth and her new husband were preparing a honeymoon in Paris,
and then on the Orient Express to Constantinople, when her husband
fell under the spell of Menkaph and was persuaded to wear the Fez. He
is now in a coma. Elizabeth is living a nightmare, watching him slip
away, hearing the terrible whispering of the Fez right at her ear in the
small compartment, as she travels further away from her loved ones in
the company of terrible people who are prepared to sacrifice her
husband. She spends most of the time in tears and is shepherded by
Menkaph, who hopes to sell her into a harem in Constantinople or use
her to wear a Fez if something happens to her husband.
==========================================
===================
(7) Single Compartment: Hieronymus Menkaph
HIERONYMUS MENKAPH, AGE 46, POSING AS SPIRITUALIST
See Menkaph’s general write up on page 47 in the introduction.
Menkaph is passing himself off on the train as a spiritualist and self-
appointed guru to the Myers. He wears an opera cape and stagevillain
moustache, and expresses himself in highly theatrical terms. He hopes
that in his florid theatricality he will be overlooked as a buffoon.

==========================================
===================

(8) Single Compartment: Count Razumosky

COUNT RUDOLPH RAZUMOSKY, AGE 55, RUSSIAN NOBLE
Count Razumosky is an autocrat who is travellingin order to win back
the affections of his young wife, whom he fears is losing interest in
him. (He is right. She is currently having an affair with his cousin). The
Count tends to distrust anyone of the lower orders and will
immediately side with and aid anyone with a title or other noble
connections. The Count believes he is the target of Red Republicans
and Anarchists, and carries a derringer in his personal luggage in his
compartment, though not on his person. The Count has no idea his
servant is a spy for the Czar and would be appalled if he found out, not
because he disapproves of spies but the idea of a servant having
secrets from him is insulting. The Count and Countess, like many upper
class Russians of the period, tend to speak in French more than
Russian.
==========================================
===================

(9) Single Compartment: Countess Irina Razumosky

COUNTESS IRINA RAZUMOSKY, AGE 25, RUSSIAN COUNTESS
Countess Irina is a young and beautiful woman, bored with her
situation and her aging husband. She is enjoying seeing the world and
has a genuine interest in other people and other cultures. She is
conducting an affair with the Count’s cousin, but is tiring of him also.
She knows to continue the affair would almost certainly mean
exposure. She is fond enough of her husband and does not wish to
disgrace or hurt him if she can avoid it. She is hoping the experience of
the east will give her some perspective on life and help make some
hard decisions.

The Countess has been given an ornate knife by the Count for self
defense against Turks, but she has little skill in using it and would
greatly hesitate to actually stab someone.
==========================================
===================

(10) Single Compartment: Pytor Trubosky

PYTOR TRUBOSKY, AGE 29, RUSSIAN GENTLEMAN
Pytor Trubosky is a cousin to the Count and lover of the Countess. He is
fond of both, but as an impoverished gentleman with no hope of a title
and estates, is happy to use either of them to maintain his lifestyle of
ease and luxury. Trubosky has a weakness for women and gambling
and is happy to get by on his charm and his looks wherever he can.
The Count finds him a gadfly but amusing and Pytor plays to this role.
==========================================
===================
Menkaph on the Train
Menkaph makes no attempt to hide his presence on the train from the
investigators. He knows who they are, but arrogantly assumes they will
not act against him in such a public place. Meanwhile, he plots their
destruction in private. When the investigators board the train,
Menkaph’s plan is fully realized. He has several Fezzes, and the book
The Whispering Fez. He just needs to reach Constantinople. The book
is kept in the Myers’ compartment, which is guarded by a Shadow
creature. The book is in the pillow under Myers’ head. If Menkaph loses
the book, he will come at the investigators directly, using Myers as a
bargaining chip. Once he wears a Blood Red Fez, Menkaph assumes the
power of a Fez Controller (the powers are listed below in full). He can
make new Fezzes.

The confrontation between Menkaph and the investigators is left to the

keeper, or more correctly to the players. Menkaph’s plans against them
are included in the daily events, page 61. If Menkaph is killed or
captured, he carries a letter from Nisra the Daughter of Fate next to his
heart (Gaslight Handout #7).

==========================================
===================
NEW SPELL
Reading The Whispering Fez gains the reader Fez Controller Powers, as long as they
succeed in an INT roll when they finish reading the book. Powers that require a Fez
controller and another Fez wearer are marked with an asterisk. These must be within
a half a mile radius of one another to work.
DRAIN THE FEZ*
Cost: 1D4 Sanity point if successful; 5 POW if attempt fails.
Casting time: One round

The Controller may attempt to drain other Fez wearers of magic points or POW. If the
target is unwilling, an opposed POW roll is required. Only 5 POW per day can be
drained this way per Fez wearer. The POW is taken permanently from the victim and
added to the Controller, or it can be used to spawn a new Fez (see below). One magic
point per hour can also be drained, but these come back to the wearer at the end of
day.

CONTROL SERVANT OF THE BLOOD RED FEZ*

Cost: 1D6 Sanity points
Casting time: One round
This spell accelerates a Fez wearer to become a Servant of the Blood Red Fez (see
Day 3 of the Degeneration Track). The Servant does the bidding of the Controller. By
now the person is strongly in the grip of the Fez and cannot resist.

SPAWN FEZ
Cost: 5 POW; 1D4 Sanity points
Casting time: One round
A new Fez can be grown from an existing Fez. This requires 24 hours, at the end of
which it is slowly extruded with a hideous shucking noise.

FAVORITE OF YOG-SOTHOTH
Cost: See Call Yog-Sothoth in Rulebook for details.
Casting time: As above.
This spell acts very much as Call/Dismiss Yog-Sothoth except that no stone tower is
needed. Instead, a sacrifice is required and both caster and sacrifice must be wearing
a Blood Red Fez. On a successful roll by the caster, Yog-Sothoth is inclined to view its
summoner favorably and grant spells and POW bonus at the keeper’s discretion. If
another person wearing a Fez contests primacy then the spell will be aborted on an
opposed POW roll. On a Fumble roll Yog-Sothoth appears anyway and is not inclined
to view anyone favorably.

CONTROL THE FEZ*

Cost: None
Casting time: One round
Any Fez wearer can test against another by making an opposed POW roll. The winner
is now considered the Controller. The loser can resist control once per 24 hours. Allies
can voluntarily give up control.

==========================================
===================
NEW MYTHOS TOME: THE WHISPERING FEZ
In Persian and hieroglyph, author unknown This is a bound book,
dating from the Ottoman Empire around 1800. It is a quarto volume
that appears to be bound in the same dark blood color as the Fez,
though without its disturbing symbols or strange smell. The book is in
two distinct parts.
Part One: The bulk of the book is in Persian, and recounts the specific
use of the Blood Red Fez and its properties and its use as a device to
call on Yog-Sothoth to grant the user power.
After reading the book the reader will have an innate knowledge of how
to control the Fez, and learns all of the Controller Powers. This section
may be read in 24 hours. Gaslight Handout #8 summarizes what can
be gleaned from this section.

Part Two: The end of the book is in hieroglyphs similar in symbol and
pattern to those found on the Fez. Only very rare individuals can
translate and interpret this correctly. They must have over 25%
Cthulhu Mythos and over 75% Persian to do so. It takes around 12
hours to read this section and comprehend it. This matter occupies
only a few pages at the end of the book. The results are described
under Professor Demir in the Constantinople section below.
• Sanity loss: 1D10
• Cthulhu Mythos: +7 percentiles
• Mythos Rating: 21
• Study: 24 hours for the Persian, 12 hours for the hieroglyph section
• Spells: Arrest Fez Decline, Control Servant of the Blood Red Fez*,
Control the Fez*, Favored of Yog-Sothoth*, Drain the Fez*, Spawn Fez*.
*Require both controller and fez wearer.
==========================================
===================
Day One (Wednesday): Paris to Strasbourg
TIMETABLE
Paris 7:30 P.M.
Arrives: Châlons-sur-Marne 10.26 P.M.
Arrives: Strasbourg 3:43 A.M.

BOARDING, 10:26 P.M.

The investigators board the train late and find their compartments
have been made up for sleeping. They may prefer to go to the salon
car before retiring. Here they meet the following:
• The Russian men (The Countess is in her compartment, reading).
• Miss Macgregor making notes in a journal
• Menkaph and Bentley Burnham deep in conversation. Menkaph is
partly hoping to draw out the investigators and is perfectly willing to
sacrifice Bentley Burnham to do
it. Menkaph is flanked by Kapok, who glowers in a doorway but does
not sit or drink.

MIDNIGHT SHADOWS
At 11:00 P.M. the Countess creeps from her own compartment to
Pytor’s. At midnight Scott Myers passes into the second day of the Fez.
His Shadow creatures stalk the entire length of the train. If
investigators are alert and/or they manage to injure the creatures, they
see them return to Myers’ compartment either after they are hurt or at
dawn (just after Strasbourg).
==========================================
===================

Day Two (Thursday): Strasbourg to Budapest

TIMETABLE
Strasbourg 3:43 A.M.
Arrives: Stuttgart 6:41 A.M.
Arrives: Ulm 8:18 A.M.
Arrives: Munich 10:21 A.M.
Arrives: Salzburg 12:46 P.M.
Arrives: Vienna Westbahnhof 5:50 P.M.
Arrives: Vienna Staatsbahnhof 6:49 P.M.
Arrives: Budapest 11:00 P.M.

MORNING, 6:41 A.M.

The train arrives at Stuttgart at 6:41 A.M. and Bentley Burnham leaves
the train, having given his report. He takes no further part in the
scenario, unless the keeper wishes to bring him back.

BREAKFAST, 9:00 A.M.

Sleeping Car One has its breakfast at nine. Investigators are called to
the Dining Car. Keepers should use the dining periods—Breakfast,
Lunch, and Dinner—to sit investigators next to passengers so they can
get to know who is on the car. Should they demand otherwise, the staff
will try to accommodate them and sit them all together (unless, of
course, there is an odd number). Tables sit four, two by two facing each
other.

Investigators will note, probably with alarm, that Menkaph is openly

wearing a Blood Red Fez! He suffers no ill effects, and deflects any
interest of theirs as mad fancy. They will also notice Mrs. Myers who is
seated next to Menkaph at breakfast and weeps the entire time. Mr.
Myers is not with them and Kapok sits opposite. Menkaph takes a
repulsive and protective interest over Mrs. Myers and takes a dim view
of anyone trying to intercede. He will, however, try to avoid making an
outright scene. Before breakfast is over Mrs. Myers retreats to her
compartment.

If investigators continue to watch Menkaph they note he has two allies

in the second car, one of whom is wearing another Blood Red Fez!
==========================================
===================
LUNCH
Miss Macgregor buttonholes the investigators to see if they are
interested in contributing to her story. She would like their opinion on
the ‘Armenian Question’ and her contention that Christians in the
Ottoman Empire are being oppressed. She will also note, if the
investigators are sympathetic, that she is worried about Mrs. Myers
and is thinking of approaching her. Would they care to join her?

AFTERNOON: MRS. AND MR. MYERS

That afternoon, if they have not already spoken to her, the
investigators can find Mrs. Myers in the Salon Car, still weeping. Kapok
keeps watch over her from the door. If the investigators speak to Mrs.
Myers she can tell the awful story of how her husband has succumbed
to some mysterious illness since wearing the Fez on Tuesday night.
Menkaph has told her it is a hysterical reaction because her husband is
such a sensitive subject, but she believes that there is some other,
darker, reason for it. If the investigators seem capable and sympathetic
she will ask directly for their help.

The best time to get to see Scott Myers is during meals, when
Menkaph makes it a point to dine with Mrs. Myers. Myers can only be
saved by selfless action on the part of the investigators using the
Arrest Fez Decline ritual.
==========================================
===================

VIENNA, 5:50 PM
The train arrives in Vienna late that afternoon at 5:50 P.M. The
investigators are to meet Baron von Hofler, Smith’s friend and their
patron. Passengers boarding in Vienna are placed in Sleeping Car Two.
Baron Von Hofler is seen off by his concerned daughter, Ilsa.
Investigators watching out the window see her beg him not to make
the trip. She claims he is exhausted and needs the rest. When he
refuses she storms off. In fact she gets back on the train minutes later
in disguise (see The Baron’s Daughter, below).
==========================================
===================

BARON VON HOFLER

Baron Von Hofler is pale and gaunt. His clothes are of the finest quality,
but his grooming is just slightly awry. He is consumed with interest in
the Fez, and is not taking care of himself. The Baron is ostensibly the
ally of Professors Smith and Demir and has been underwriting the cost
of the expedition. However his motives are tainted. He wants to defeat
evil but he has lost his way in how he goes about it. His immersion in
Mythos knowledge has driven him insane. Only his daughter Ilsa
suspects this. The Baron is intelligent and extremely aloof and does not
suffer fools. If the investigators do not already possess both the Fez
and the book by the time they reach Vienna, he will be rudely
dismissive of their capabilities.

The Baron has long wanted to get his hands on the Blood Red Fez,
having heard of it from associates in Anatolia. He has assembled an
equivalent copy of Apocrypha of the Fez from his own researches. He
will allow the investigators to read this or summarize for them. He has
not read The Whispering Fez and so has no exact method of learning
more.

He is frustrated by his lack of knowledge and intends to make up for

this with experimentation, and will thus choose one of the investigators
and seize a chance to place a Fez on their heads. If necessary he will
Mesmerize them. He will then attempt to understand the Fez by
communing with the mind of the possessed, using his Occult skill. On
a success he gains insight into the Fez and can describe the Controller
powers (per the Whispers of the Fez book). On a failure he learns
nothing. On a fumble he becomes comatose and dies within 1D10
hours, rising as a Fez Zombie. If the investigators give him a Fez and
The Whispering Fez, he will sequester himself for the next few hours
studying them, but will still want to conduct an experiment.

The Baron is a conflicted figure. On the one hand he genuinely wishes

to aid Smith, Demir and the investigators against Menkaph. On the
other he is mad and ruthless and wishes to gain power for his own
ends. He can aid the investigators with knowledge and financial
support, but it may come at a terrible price.
==========================================
===================

BEFORE BELGRADE: THE BARON’S DAUGHTER

Ilsa Von Hofler is convinced her father is losing his grip on reality —
thanks to his occult studies— and is determined to save him. She is
still a loyal daughter and wants to see further proof that the Baron is
clearly out of control before she acts. To this end she disguises herself
as an exotic woman in a purple kimono with a scarlet dragon, complete
with heavy makeup and jet black short wig over her own long blonde
hair.

She will observe her father, and when she is certain he is a danger to
himself and others, she will act. In some ways Ilsa is cold-bloodedly
using the investigators as guinea pigs. She suspects that they are just
more degenerate hangers- on of her father.
Ilsa plans to drug the Baron and get him off the train somewhere
between Vienna and Belgrade. To this end she carries a hypodermic
needle and a bottle of laudanum, as well as a bottle of chloroform and
a large rag. She has her family doctor waiting at Belgrade and hirelings
at Budapest whom she coordinates with via telegram messages if need
be. With the doctor’s connivance she plans to get the Baron back to
home in Vienna and confine him there until he is well. She believes
Doctor Freud will have some success treating him in Vienna.

Keepers should roll on her Stealth and Disguise skills to catch the
Baron off-guard. If she is successful she leaves the train with the
unconscious Baron at Budapest or Belgrade or even Sofia.

If Ilsa detects the investigators are possible allies she will ask them for
help. While she does not believe her father is evil, she is not a fool and
will acknowledge if he becomes dangerous. Under no circumstances
will she condone serious harm coming to the Baron.
==========================================
===================
11:00 P.M. BUDAPEST
At 11:00 P.M. the train arrives at Budapest and the Berlin-to-
Constantinople carriage is attached, necessitating a wait of 20
minutes. If the investigators have given Baron von Hofler the Fez and
the book The Whispering Fez, and if his daughter has not acted, he will
slip off the train here and try to get back to Vienna. Investigators can
pursue him and get the items back, but then must make a mad dash
by coach, horseback, and local train across the Hungarian frontier and
into Serbia to try and rejoin the Orient Express at Belgrade at 5:40 A.M.
the next morning.

MORE MIDNIGHT SHADOWS

Myers’ Shadow Creatures prowl again, this time more aggressively. At
midnight Scott Myers will pass into the third day of the Fez. Menkaph is
controlling him so he does not mindlessly attack Mrs. Myers, but has no
such compunction about sending him against the investigators. In the
event Scott Myers is killed or destroyed, Menkaph will make Mrs. Myers
his next Fez victim.
==========================================
===================
Day Three (Friday): Belgrade to Bulgaria
TIMETABLE
Arrives: Belgrade 5:40 A.M.
Arrives: Nïs 10:57 A.M.
Arrives: Sofia 4:05 P.M.

BELGRADE, 5:40 A.M.

The Orient Express arrives at Belgrade at 5:40 A.M. If the investigators
have not changed her plans Ilsa von Hofler will now drug her father
and try and get him off the train, with the help of her doctor friend.

BREAKFAST, 9:00 A.M.

Keepers should remind them they are approaching their final night on
the train, in which case they may wish to draw up their plans
accordingly. Some time during the morning the Countess comes to the
investigators, especially if one is female. The watchful Miss Minkoff is
also there. The Countess confesses at last that Pytor has grown boorish
and she tried to break off the relationship. Now he is being sullen and
threatening. She is a little afraid. Will someone go and talk to him as
her intermediary? She would be grateful. A successful Persuade or
Intimidate should put Pytor in his place.

FINAL MIDNIGHT SHADOWS

At this stage Menkaph is determined to pull out all stops to get rid of
the investigators, unless they have been completely circumspect. He
accelerates Myers and his Fez wearing cultists to Servants, mindless
thralls who are strong and tough. That way if they get caught he can
deny all knowledge of their activities.
==========================================
===================
What if the Investigators Get Everything?
The investigators may well succeed in killing Menkaph and his minions and seizing
the book and all Fezzes before they reach Constantinople.

This level of triumph would be unusual but not impossible and is certainly not
discouraged. Keepers should assume that before the last cultist falls he has a chance
to telegraph Constantinople and warn Nisra the Daughter of Fate. She will then have
even more incentive to kidnap Professor Demir’s son in Constantinople (see below for
more details).
==========================================
===================
Day Four (Saturday): Constantinople Arrival
TIMETABLE
Arrives: Constantinople 10:43 A.M.
FINAL MORNING
The investigators enjoy a last breakfast on the Orient Express before
preparing to disembark at Constantinople at 10:43 A.M. The state they
are in depends entirely on their actions during the train
journey.======================================
=======================
Arriving In Constantinople
The investigators arrive at Sirkeci Station at 10:43 A.M. on Saturday
morning. The station is new and very grand, having been completed in
1890. It resembles a cross between a mosque and a huge Victorian
railway terminus; as the creation of a Prussian architect it is considered
a classic example of European Orientialism. Investigator luggage goes
straight from the train to the Railway Custom House where it is
inspected and then passed on to Wagon-Lits staff who make sure there
is minimum delay.

Ottoman Constantinople is strikingly different to the cities they have

visited thus far. Italian traveler Edmondo de Amicus noted the
astounding varieties of people on its streets: ‘in the course of ten
minutes and in the space of a few feet you will have seen a mixture of
race and dress you never conceived of before’. He notes Turks and
Greeks, Armenians, Cossacks of Ukrania and Russia, Serbs,
Montenegrins, Wallachians, Albanians in long white robes, African
slaves, a storyteller in the garb of a necromancer, nuns from the Pera
hospitals, sheepskin-clad Tartar, a veiled Muslim woman with a slave, a
Jewish woman in national costume, a black woman from Cairo,

Turkish girls dressed in green trousers and red or yellow vests.

Everywhere are the sounds of different languages and the signs of all
the religions. Conveyances include camels, donkeys, horses, sedan
chairs, ox-carts, carriages. The richest can be seen on one hand and
the meanest poverty on the other.
==========================================
===================
Ottoman Constantinople
The Constantinople of the Ottoman Empire is a great and colorful city, the hub of a
whole world of east and west, but is also the capital of an empire clearly in decline.
The Ottoman Empire (1301-1922) was an Islamic Empire that replaced the Byzantine
Empire as the dominant power in the eastern Mediterranean. Its conquest of
Constantinople in 1452 cemented its control of the Black Sea region and by the reign
of Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-66) it had expanded to Syria, Egypt, Arabia,
Hungary, the Balkans and had reached outside Vienna. Now its power is waning. The
Sultan is grimly holding onto power against foreign enemies such as the Tsarists
chipping away at the territory of the Empire— it lost 40% of its size through conquest
by Russia in 1878—and internal factions urging modernism. The Sultan believes
western Europeans will provide the answer to the Russian problem and concessions
to modernism will appease those who believe the Empire must fall. He is wrong in
both cases. Ottoman Constantinople is in many ways two cities. One, on the northern
side of the Golden Horn, made up of suburbs Pera and Galata, is the European city.
An ambitious program of modernization with European style hotels, urban design and
railways has been under way for decades. Pera has European hotels, doctors and
shops and even an underground railway. The other, Turkish, city is south of the
Golden Horn, in Stamboul and on the Asian side of the Bosporus, in Scutari. Here the
way of life is more notably Turkish. To the Turks, Stamboul is the true Constantinople,
the ancient city of the Byzantines, built like Rome on Seven hills, each one now
crowned with a mosque. It is Constantinople’s true heart. Everything in Pera and
environs tends to be close to European standards, elsewhere less so. Constantinople
is a splendid city but also has its poverty and meanness. Away from the boulevards
are narrow, dirty streets strewn at intervals with piles of garbage and irregularly
paved. Packs of half starved dogs run wild in the streets. The rising population is
straining the capacity of the city. With the shrinking of the Empire many are being
driven back into Turkey. The official 1886 census gives the total as 851,494 (110%
rise over the previous 40 years) but this number is considered inaccurate, and that
over one million residents is more likely. The city is Islamic and its chief language
Turkish.

ACCOMMODATION AND ALTERNATIVES

In the suggested year of 1893 the Pera Palace hotel is not yet complete, and other
hotels in Pera struggle to offer European style comfort for investigators. These
include: the Hotel de Byzance and Misseri’s, named by Bradshaw, but officially known
as the Hotel d’Angleterre. These cost around 18-20 shillings a day, making them very
expensive by European standards. Meals here are around 5 shillings. Cheaper is the
Hotel Belle Vue at 12 shillings a day. They are all a little grim, with sheets not
changed often and items regularly stolen from rooms. By 1894 the Pera Palace begins
an era of luxury hotels only a little higher in price than the current ones, but much
better value.

CURRENCY
The Ottoman currency is the Lira which is equal to 18 English shillings in the 1890s.
On the streets the coinage is in gold, silver and copper coins, the latter once having a
silver coating which has now been prised off most coins. Turks tend to price things by
the gurush, known as piastre to the Europeans. The piastre is worth about 2 pence.
European currency can be used directly without need of exchange. The English
sovereign is known as the English lira and is worth 120 piastres. Other popular
currencies are the French, Italian and Greek silver francs worth 4.5 piastres.
Currencies other than those listed bring less favorable exchange rates. Thomas Cook
& Son has an office in Pera, where travelers can get notes exchanged and other
currency issues attended to with a minimum of fuss.

GUNS AND GOODS

The Bazaar in Stamboul is the place to shop. Bargaining is expected. If anyone
desires guns in Constantinople they will likely be German made—the Germans have
been providing the Ottomans with guns for decades. Groups who may cause trouble
in this era are Armenian terrorists known as Dashnaks, protesting the Ottomans’
cruelty to their people; also many Tsarist spies are around, seeking to undermine the
Empire. Constantinople police are armed. One traveler describes them as carrying a
whole arsenal in their belts. European doctors and pharmacists can be got in Pera
and all the consuls are there.

DOGS OF CONSTANTINOPLE
Without fail the accounts of nineteenth century travelers to Constantinople mention
the packs of stray dogs which infest the streets and can be found day and night
throughout the city. Some look on them as friendly and engaging while others
consider them ill-tempered curs and a blight on the city.

GETTING AROUND
It is customary to hire a Dragoman, a guide and interpreter when in Constantinople.
The going price is around 7 shillings a day. Note that in Constantinople the term
‘guide’ is a euphemism for pimp, and may lead to some confusion.

Carriages and Horses: Carriages are very common and are drawn by two horses
because of the steep hills. Short rides are 10 pence while longer ones are 2 to 3
shillings. Travelers pay a few pence more for rides after 6:00 P.M. Riding horses can
also be hired, although there is no fixed fare and prices must be settled by
bargaining.

Watercraft: Steamers across the waters surrounding Constantinople cost around 1

shilling and 6 pence per person with luggage free. Smaller four-oared craft called
caïques can be hired and cost around 2 shillings and 6 pence for long trips, or if
engaged by the hour 1 shilling and 8 pence per hour. The best caïques are under the
Galata Bridge. These are not recommended for crossing over to the Asian side.

Trams: Trams run in Pera and Galata for 2 pence and across Stamboul for 3 pence.
==========================================
===================
THE PROFESSOR’S CHILDREN
Toprak and Rana meet the investigators—they are the son and
daughter of Professor Demir. They speak excellent if accented English
and are courteous but in a state of some agitation. Last night the
Professor was attacked in his home and their younger brother, Barlas,
kidnapped when he went to their father’s aid. The Professor was
stabbed in the stomach and is now convalescing. They insist the
investigators come and see him before going to their hotel.
==========================================
===================

Professor Demir's House

Professor Demir has a lovely house in Galata. His wife Selin is charming
and his children are accomplished and intelligent, but all are worried
about the missing Barlas. Professor Demir cuts a stately figure with a
striking profile and considerable moustache. He is tall for the era,
around six feet, and in his mid-fifties. His injury is obviously painful but
he can get around the house with effort. Going outside is out of the
question for at least two weeks.

The Professor is retired at the moment, but not entirely by choice. The
Ottomans have closed two of the main universities he worked for
previously: Istanbul University and the University of Marmara (though
the latter is closed for rebuilding). Both will re open by 1900. He is
currently on a stipend to do research for theDepartment of Education.

If there are four or fewer investigators Professor Demir requests they

stay as his guests while in Constantinople. If the investigators have Mr.
and Mrs. Myers with them, Demir and his wife are very sympathetic
and agree to put up and look after the couple.

Professor Demir is grateful to the investigators for helping Smith, but

he is worried about his son. He discusses the following issues with the
investigators.
==========================================
===================

THE KIDNAP
Uppermost in Demir’s mind is the safe return of Barlas. He shows the
investigators a note that has been delivered by hand which agrees to
return the Professor’s son in exchange for what the cult wants. The
cult’s demands depend on the investigators’ success on the train, but
can include the book (if the investigators have it), a Fez (if the cult
have none), or for the Professor’s “new friends” to get back on the
Orient Express or a steamer and leave Constantinople before 24 hours
has passed. The note specifies that the meeting is to take place
Sunday midnight at Kasim Pasha docks.

Demir is no fool and knows the cultists have no intention of honoring

any exchange. He suspects there are two chances to save Barlas—find
out where the cult is currently keeping him and rescue him before the
exchange, or spring a surprise on them at the meeting.
==========================================
===================

THE BOOK: THE WHISPERING FEZ

The Professor has the knowledge of Persian and the Cthulhu Mythos
needed to read the final few pages of The Whispering Fez. Once the
investigators give him the book he can have it translated and read in
12 hours (see the section The Final Section of the Whispering Fez, p.
77, nearby). He will have this done by midday the following day.
==========================================
===================

CHILDREN OF THE BLOOD RED FEZ

The Professor can fill in the investigators on the background of the cult,
which he believes is small but growing in power. He knows much of the
cult’s history. He knows that Menkaph serves the former harem girl
Nisra, Daughter of Fate. He knows that prior to this Menkaph had an
alliance with Selim Makryat.
==========================================
===================

NISRA, DAUGHTER OF FATE

Nisra the Daughter of Fate is the true power behind Menkaph. She was
a former pupil of the mysterious occultist known only as The
Frenchman, who has a mansion in Stamboul. Demir has no idea if he
might help, but it is possible. The man is perverse.
==========================================
===================
THE BLOOD RED FEZ
The Professor can supply any missing information about the Blood Red
Fez.
==========================================
===================

SELIM MAKRYAT
The investigators may recall Smith’s warning about Selim Makryat.
Demir tells them that Makryat worships a terrible entity called the
Skinless One and that Selim has been conducting strange researches
and experiments for years. He explains how Selim and Menkaph were
once allies. Selim’s cult is known as the Brothers of the Skin, and they
inhabit an ancient fortress in Scutari, on the Asian side of the
Bosporus. Selim is extremely dangerous, and Demir is not convinced
he has anything to do with this business.
==========================================
===================

Research
Investigators may wish to spend some time researching any gaps in
their knowledge. Ideal places for research are as follows.
==========================================
===================

THE IMPERIAL TREASURY

Situated on the Old Seraglio grounds where the Sultans’ Palace once
stood. It is an area with ancient palaces, museums, and the treasury.
The treasury holds the crown jewels but also has an extensive library
as part of its complex. Visitors must get an Imperial Warrant from their
consulate to visit here (see British Consul below). During their visit
they are always accompanied by a guard. The library has thousands of
ancient manuscripts in Persian, Arabic, Greek and Turkish. It is
considered of no interest to visitors, but special arrangements for
viewing can be made through the consulate. Note that the guards here
do not take well to gratuities or outright bribes.
==========================================
===================

THE IMPERIAL MUSEUM OF ANTIQUITIES

Also situated on the Old Seraglio grounds, and open 9:00 A.M. to 2:30
P.M. every day except Friday. Admission 5 piastres or 10 pence. The
museum contains many sarcophagi and other ancient artifacts, not just
from Turkey but Egypt, Greece and Persia, as well as pieces excavated
from Troy. It includes artifacts of the Hittites and Phoenicians and
Romans. Demir is a friend of the Director and can arrange access to
manuscripts and longer viewing hours if requested.
==========================================
===================

MUSEUM OF ANCIENT COSTUME

Situated near the Hippodrome. Open 9:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. each day.
Anyone wishing to research the history of the Fez may do so here.
==========================================
===================

POSSIBLE INFORMATION
Successful Library Use may glean the following. However note almost
all the information is in Arabic, Persian (the preferred language of the
Ottoman court literature), or Turkish.
=>Assembling a new Apocrypha of the Fez.
=>Assembling The Whispering Fez. If the investigators have a Blood
Red Fez or a rubbing of its symbols it is possible with judicious research
to find reference to enough material to assemble the hidden section of
the book: the ritual and destruction of the Fez. This is a feat of
scholarship that has been beyond Nisra and Menkaph and their cronies
and takes two full time researchers two weeks of study. (See below for
Demir’s interpretation of the reading).
==========================================
===================

The Final Section of the Whispering Fez

Half a day after receiving The Whispering Fez, Professor Demir
completes a skim of the main book and a reading of the untranslatable
part. He sends a messenger to the investigators at once. They find him
very shaken.

The hieroglyph section makes plain that it is not a true Prince that is
needed, but that whoever wears the Fez and conducts the ritual will be
as a prince. This will be disastrous, allowing the entrance into our
reality of a foul being beyond any mundane conception of evil, known
as the ‘Father of Sorcerers’. The price that the city and indeed the
world could pay is incalculable. Cthulhu Mythos identifies the deity
as Yog-Sothoth.

The hieroglyphs detail how to destroy the Fez completely. Someone

must wear the Fez in proximity with the current Control Fez wearer and
challenge and defeat that person in a battle of wills. The symbols on
the Fez describe the ritual that enacts this. The spell Destroy the Fez is
found at the end of this scenario, in the section on The Island of
Doomed Princes.
==========================================
===================

Visiting the Frenchman

The Frenchman is in fact the Duc Jean Floressas des Esseintes, also
known as The Jigsaw Prince.

Keepers should keep his true identity secret but play him consistently
with how he appears in the 1920s. If the players suspect they are the
same man, they will be immediately suspicious when the 1923
investigators meet him in Lausanne. See the Lausanne chapter
“Nocturne” for more information.

He maintains a palatial residence in Stamboul near the Great Palace of

the Sultan. The gardens are grand and exotic, where peacocks stroll
and a hundred strange aromas, not all of them natural, fan the
breezes. The residence is an elegant domed building. The silent
servants bring the investigators out on the upper balcony, where the
Frenchman reclines in silks, puffing on a hookah. The Frenchman
appears much as he does in the 1920s adventure. Indeed, anyone who
meets him both times will remark on how little he has changed in thirty
years.

The Frenchman is a powerful occult figure but at the moment is not

interested in the investigators enough to do them harm. If they are
courteous and sufficiently flattering he may even help them,
depending on the success of their Charm or Persuade. He will not
succumb to Fast Talk and will pitch out the investigator who dares
waste his time with such vulgarities. If he doesn’t like them, or they are
rude, he may lace their drinks with Dream Drug and send them horrible
nightmares that threaten their Sanity. In all cases he will inform Nisra
of what they discuss, simply because it amuses him and he likes to
prove he is better informed than any of his occult rivals.

The Frenchman is also motivated by his knowledge that Smith and

Demir are dangerous to him and Selim Makryat, and that Nisra and
Menkaph are noisy amateurs likely to bring trouble. Setting the
investigators and the Children of the Blood Red Fez against one
another could well solve two problems at once. He steers the
investigators away from any questions about Selim, laughing him off as
a joke. He can provide the following information:
==========================================
===================

=> Nisra the Daughter of Fate was his pupil. She was persuaded by the
charlatan Menkaph that the Blood Red Fez was a shortcut to power so
she abandoned her studies under him. She will come to realize there
are no shortcuts to power where the power is worth having.
=> Nisra has cultivated a delusional exiled Prince, Prince Ramazan. He
is a distant cousin to the Sultan and was exiled because he was
degenerate and ambitious, a combination the Sultan disliked intensely.
The Frenchman has heard Ramazan has syphilis, a prospect he finds
intensely funny.
=> Nisra has set herself up on the forgotten island known also as The
Island of Doomed Princes, the 10th and furthest out of the Princes’
Islands, the place where Byzantine and Ottoman royalty have been
exiled for centuries. She has a Black Eunuch as a guard (being black or
white determines how much of the genitalia is removed, so is a
significant distinction in Ottoman times) and a few
other servants who are probably cultists.
=> Menkaph is a pretender who knows very little. Any power he has is
because of the direct intervention of Nisra or that which has been
stolen from books or artifacts.

As soon as the investigators have left, the Frenchman will send a

servant to inform Selim and one to inform Nisra of his conversation. He
will make it look to Nisra as if he is manipulating the investigators so
they can be trapped (and this is partly true in any case). Investigators
remaining outside his home see the two servants appear half an hour
later. The servants part outside the gate, one going south to the Sea of
Marmara the other going west to Scutari.
==========================================
===================

The Brothers of the Skin

The Brothers of the Skin maintain a small holding in an ancient fort in
Scutari, on the Asian side of the Bosporus. The Asian side has more
Oriental buildings and much more vegetation than the European.
Scutari is a small village, notable to Britons for housing Florence
Nightingale’s hospital during the Crimean war and for its monastery of
Dervishes. There are also Turkish and British cemeteries here. The cost
is around 40 piastres and half a day’s journey to come over by
steamer.

Around twenty cultists can be found here at any one time. The fort is
situated above a tiny village. The cultists have passed themselves off
to the locals as a monastic order and do what they can to not draw
attention to themselves. There is a 50% chance Selim himself is here
when the investigators come. He spends around half his time using the
fortress as a base for his foul experiments with skinning humans. The
cult is nowhere as ubiquitous as it becomes by the 1920s.
Selim largely uses its membership as muscle to gain and guard his
victims. Only a small coterie of around half dozen gains actual occult
knowledge, one of them eing Selim’s child Mehmet.
==========================================
===================

SELIM MAKRYAT
Selim Makyrat is an intense older gentleman who stares at the
investigators as though he is imagining their faces being stripped of
skin (which, in fact, he is). Selim is watchful and wary, and always has
the Brothers on alert when visitors are admitted into the fort. As a
precaution he has cast the spell Skin of the Sedefkar, giving him 10
points of armor. Selim’s statistics can be found in the Constantinople
1923 chapter if required.

During the conversation with Selim, a nine year old boy sits quietly,
watching and listening. This is Mehmet Makryat. Psychology confirms
that he is following and memorizing every aspect of the discussion—
Mehmet turns to look directly at any investigator who scrutinizes him
before turning his attention back to the conversation.

The investigator is left with the uncomfortable feeling that the boy will
remember them. Selim offers the investigators no help unless they say
they are opposing Nisra, whom he dislikes because he does not like the
idea of women holding occult power. He tells them about the Island of
Doomed Princes, the 10th and secret island in the Princes’ Islands
chain, and that her cult is around fifty strong.

Bold investigators might endeavor to kill Selim or Mehmet. Assume

that Selim is alert for such an ambush, and show no mercy.
==========================================
===================

The Sultan
It is possible investigators decide to visit the Sultan to find out about
the Prince. Anyone who knows anything of the Ottoman Empire,
including Turkish investigators, will know the Sultan has many relatives
who might be considered to have ‘the blood of a Prince.’
==========================================
===================

THE PALACE
The Sultan’s palace is on part of the Great Palace complex in Stamboul
and is three miles across. It has gardens, palatial buildings, a polo field,
everything the modern potentate could want. Gaining an audience with
the Sultan is extremely difficult and will take at least a week to arrange
and require a Credit Rating roll at Extreme difficulty.

Demir suggests that the foreign embassies may be able to help—allow

a bonus die in this instance. If the investigators eventually do see the
Sultan he is distant but polite they are after all Europeans. He tells
them Ramazan is a distant cousin and, as a drug addict and alcoholic,
an embarrassment to the good Muslims of his family.

He has no idea where the Prince is now (this is true enough). He knows
he fell in with a very strange crowd and has not seen him for months.
The Sultan does not recall the name Nisra, imperiously implying that
servants are beneath his notice, but Hard Psychology notes a
moment of recognition and perhaps longing.

He will try and gain from them the dispensation of their countries
towards his throne and seek possible ambassadors. If he finds them
engaging enough he may invite them to a ball where they will mix with
notable relatives of his, ministers in his government, foreign dignitaries
and the occasional spy. Aileen Macgregor is here if she survived, and
the Frenchman is also likely to attend. This will be a grand occasion
with astounding opulence and something of the feel of the Arabian
Nights of old.
==========================================
===================

The British Consul

The British consulate is opposite the Ottoman Bank and is open from
10:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. The officials here can easily explain the history
and purpose of Princes’ Islands but are keen to point out there are only
nine and the islands are now either tourist locations or uninhabited.
The Sultan does not indulge in such terrible practices these days and is
quite modern. (This is not quite the truth but they are sticking to it).
Journeys into the interior of Turkey require a travel permit which the
consul can provide. It replaces the passport for interior officials. The
consulcan also help in other matters, but usually will recommend the
banks or the Thomas Cook & Son office in Pera for things like money,
telegraphs or other mundane issues.
==========================================
===================

The Kidnap Exchange

THE ARRANGEMENTS
The note from the kidnappers says the exchange of Professor Demir’s
son will take place at midnight the night of the day following the
investigator’s arrival in Constantinople. The scheduled place of
exchange is at the dockyards at Kasim Pasha on the Pera side of the
Golden Horn near the shipping yards.
==========================================
===================

THE KIDNAPPERS’ TRIP FROM THE ISLAND

The cultists bring the boy from the Island to the rendezvous point by
steamer. There are ten cultists including the leader who is Menkaph or
Kapok, if either survived the trip on the Orient Express. Otherwise the
leader is a nameless cultist who speaks passable English. If the cultists
have managed to keep a Fez from the train, then two of them wear
Blood Red Fezzes and are at the stage of mindless Servants of the Fez.
Five are armed with pistols, five with yatagans. The cultists leave the
Island around 8:00 P.M. and take most of the time to make the trip.
Investigators can intercept or follow them by ship, though no hired
vessel will be likely to do this without a considerable bribe. The obvious
kind of hired boat, a caïque, is too small to keep up.

Professor Demir can put the investigators in touch with a trustworthy

fisherman, Nine-Fingered Abdullah. He is a brave and cunning captain
with a light trawler and can shadow the steamer to the island. He is
devoted to Demir since the Professor saved his life years ago and he
and his sailors will fight any cultists if their ship is boarded by them.
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MEETING AT THE SHIPPING YARD

The meeting is to take place at midnight at Kasim Pasha shipyards.
Even the guidebooks label this area as ‘filthy and insanitary’. It is on
the northern side of the Horn, however it is not entirely isolated: night
workers are active in the area and the Turkish fleet lies at anchor
nearby. The cultists leave one of their own to guide the investigator
party when it arrives to an unused dock area. Crates, bales, ropes, slick
floors, multi-levels of loading dock, all make for potential hiding places
for cultists.

The cult leader brings forth the young man with a pistol to his head.
The leader asks for whatever the note has stipulated. Once they have
it and are assured that the book or the Fez are genuine they will kill the
captive and fall on the investigators to kill them. Any workers in the
vicinity will make themselves scarce. If a fight lasts for more than a few
minutes, the navy sends a launch and sailors with rifles to investigate.
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The Island of Doomed Princes

If the investigators wish to apprehend Nisra and destroy the Blood Red
Fez they must venture to Princes’ Islands.
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PRINCES’ ISLANDS
The Princes’ Islands are called Kizil Adalar by the Turks and lie 12 miles
south of Constantinople in the Sea of Marmara. Officially they number
nine, with the tenth laying to the southeast of the furthest one and
considered forbidden. (Keepers schooled in Turkish geography will note
this 10th Island is fictional). Four of the islands, the largest are
inhabited and host such establishments as naval colleges and colleges
of divinity. Contemporary Turks argue that the notion of exiling Princes
to the further isles was a purely Byzantine one, but modern historians
note it was also something done by the Ottomans. In spring and
summer steamers run morning and afternoon from Galata Bridge to
the largest of the islands which boasts hotels and cafes for the tourist.
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GETTING TO THE ISLAND

No steamer runs to the uninhabited isles. Investigators will have to
charter a boat. This may be Nine-Fingered Abdullah or someone else.
The place has an evil reputation and many fishermen have vanished in
these waters, a fact any Turkish captain negotiating a price will make
much of.
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ON THE ISLAND
The island is little more than a hillock with a small crumbling wall of
rock and a goat path complete with a few ragged goats, kept by the
cultists for food and milk. Three small caïques have been dragged up
out of the water. These are what the cult uses usually to come and go.
(The steamer for the kidnap exchange is reserved for special occasions
and Nisra’s use).
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THE CULTISTS’ TOWER

The island’s sole building is an ancient decaying tower of crumbling
stone which might have once been a lookout tower. The tower has two
levels. The first is the cultists’ home and its rooms are divided into
sleeping and eating quarters. There are at least 10 cultists here at any
time, although if a ritual is to be conducted the number will swell to 25.
They are armed with yatagans, and 1D8 will have rifles.
The top of the tower belongs to Nisra, her eunuch Ulug and Prince
Ramazan. Ulug has quarters on the ground floor but spends most of his
time on the top floor guarding the Prince. The top floor has Nisra’s
boudoir and despite being in such a faraway place, is as exotic and
lush as one would expect from an Arabian Nights harem. It also stocks
a formidable occult library and much occult paraphernalia.

Nisra is here most of the time, looking after the Prince—after a fashion
—and maintaining cult activities while she waits for Menkaph or his
successors to deliver The Whispering Fez When she has it she will learn
its secrets, kill the Prince, and ascend to what she believes is dominion
over the Eastern Mediterranean thanks to the sorcerous knowledge of
Yog-Sothoth.
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NISRA, THE DAUGHTER OF FATE

Nisra still dresses the part of the harem girl. She has a capricious and
teasing surface manner than hides an implacable and dangerous will.
She cares nothing for her fellow humans and in her hubris considers
them as little more than toys. Nisra has no combat spells and tends to
rely on Ulug and the cultists for protection. In extremes she will try and
play with the minds of investigators, or work on them so they
underestimate her and lower their guard so she can stab them.
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THE DOOMED PRINCE

The doomed Prince Ramazan is kept in the other section of the top
floor of the tower. He is suspended in a golden cage like a large bird
cage and is covered in excrement and syphilis sores. Under the foul
influence of Nisra’s magic he believes he is being treated to the
delights of her harem and only the rudest of shocks will awaken him
from this state. Once he understands how he has been treated he will
go promptly mad.

If the investigators come to the tower before the kidnap exchange they
will find Demir’s son Barlas in the same chamber as the Prince,
shackled to the wall and drugged into docility with hashish.
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The Final Ritual

If Nisra gets the knowledge from the book and her hands on a Fez she
will summon Yog-Sothoth as soon as she can. Her preference is to
stage the ceremony at night surrounded by cultists to forestall any
interference, especially if she is aware of Demir and the investigators
trying to thwart her. She will cut poor Ramazan’s throat with a
ceremonial dagger and intone the ritual while sending any cultists to
block the way to the tower on pain of death.
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DESTROYING THE FEZ

The spell Destroy the Fez from The Whispering Fez is the key to ending
Nisra and her cult. The investigators must make eye contact in order to
initiate a challenge. (See the spell Destroy the Fez on p. 82.) Nisra
confidently assumes that her will is greater, and may even abstain
from ordering her cultists to attack, preferring to crush the challenger
through sheer will power. However, if the supporting investigators are
firing guns, the cultists will not hold back.

If Nisra has started the ritual, the investigators may have to challenge
for the Fez at the same time, with the additional caveat that if the
attempt goes badly and 98-100 is rolled, there will be a catastrophic
result. Yog- Sothoth will appear to all at the site. See Yog-Sothoth’s
write-up for Sanity loss and other consequences. All Fezzes will be
destroyed and all Fez wearers except the controller will be instantly
killed or go permanently insane (Keeper’s choice). The Controller can
sacrifice his or her POW completely to end the spell and deny Yog-
Sothoth entrance to this world. The gate closes, and the Controller
slumps lifeless to the ground.
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Conclusion
With luck, the investigators will prevail, destroying Nisra and all of the
Fezzes. Reward the investigators for the following outcomes:
=> Saving the Myers: Gain 1D4 Sanity points each
=> Saving Barlas: Gain 1D4 Sanity points
=> Defeating the Cult: Gain 1D6 Sanity points
=> Destroying the Blood Red Fez: Gain 1D10 Sanity points
Keepers should stage whatever appropriate wrapping up is suggested
by the final scenes: a touching funeral or a rousing celebration.
Perhaps the investigators are all mad or dead on an island in the Sea of
Marmara. Survivors may return to London and the warm thanks of
Professor Smith, or remain in Turkey. The region offers a rich backdrop
for further adventures.
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FORWARD TO 1923
Selim Makryat’s power grows, and he and the Brothers boldly move to
Stamboul and occupy the Red Mosque. Mehmet grows up in his
father’s shadow. The Frenchman withdraws to Lausanne.

Henri the conducteur dies a few years after this, but lives on in dream.
Professor Demir and his brave daughter and sons do not appear in the
1923 campaign, but keepers could introduce them if desired.
Otherwise, assume Makryat found them first, alas.
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New Spell:
Cost: 15 POW; 1D10 Sanity points
Casting time: 3 rounds
This ritual can only be learned from the hieroglyph section of The Whispering Fez. It
allows a challenger to destroy all Fezzes under the power of a rival Controller. The
challenger must wear a Blood Red Fez, and inscribe the hieroglyphs written on the
Fez while speaking the ritual. He or she must then sacrifice 15 points of POW, and
make eye contact with the Rival Controller and succeed in an opposed POW roll (if
there is no rival controller, the challenger must succeed in a regular POW roll).

If the opposed roll fails, the challenger can try again each subsequent round, at an
additional cost of 15 POW for each attempt.

If the opposed roll succeeds, the challenger’s Fez becomes the dominant Fez. The
challenger can then elect to destroy the Fezzes. This is instant. The destroyer loses
1D10 Sanity
points. Current wearers of any Fezzes make a Hard POW roll or their head explodes—
if they succeed they are able to throw the Fez away in the split second between when
it loosens and when it detonates. The challenger’s Fez deflates, corrupting into a red
paste which drips down his or her face and leaves a permanent stain, costing 5 APP.